The need to lift a vehicle from the ground for service work is well established. For instance, it is often necessary to lift a vehicle for tire rotation or replacement, steering alignment, oil changes, brake inspections, exhaust work, and other automotive maintenance. Traditionally, lifting a vehicle has been accomplished through the use of equipment that is built-in to the service facility, such as either lift units with the hydraulic actuator(s) installed below the surface of the floor or two and four post type lift systems installed on the floor surface.
In an effort to increase the versatility and mobility of lift devices and reduce the need to invest in permanently mounted lifting equipment, devices commonly known as a mobile column lifts (MCL's) have been developed. An apparatus for lifting a vehicle using multiple MCL's is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,315,079 to Berends et al. Another apparatus for lifting a vehicle using multiple MCL's is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,634,461, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The functionality of prior MCL systems, such as those indicated above, is generally restricted to a minimal number of operations. For example, most MCL systems are restricted to performing simple operations such as raising and lowering of vehicles. Such MCL systems are not capable of performing vehicle diagnostic functions. Nevertheless, various other separate automotive diagnostic systems are generally available to perform such vehicle diagnostic functions. For instance, such currently available diagnostic systems include hand-held computing devices with wired connections for connecting the hand-held computing devices to a vehicle to obtain diagnostic information from the vehicle. However, as noted, such diagnostic systems are independent systems, which operate separately from the MCL systems. As such, a user of previously-used MCL systems is generally required to use entirely separate system for performing raising and lowering operations and for performing vehicle diagnostic functions.
Accordingly, there remains a need for a vehicle lift that is configured to integrate with a vehicle diagnostic computing device, such that the vehicle lift system can perform standard lifting operations as well as access or obtain diagnostic information and performing vehicle diagnostic functions.